A large number of farmers in the district on Monday urged the government to give compensation for loss of crops due to incessant rain.
Submitting petitions to the Collector Dinesh Ponraj Oliver, they said that they had raised paddy on 3.54 lakh acres and chilli on over one lakh acres in the region including R S Mangalam, Tiruvadanai, Mudukalathur and Kamudi blocks.
They told reporters that they had taken insurance policies but a majority of them had not insured the crops. So, they urged the government to give compensation.
Representatives of the Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, K Jeeva and A Muthuramu of CPI-M, told reporters that the rainfall since January 6 had spoiled prospects of good harvest. The harvest was just a week away when rain ruined their lives.
The government should give relief to all farmers whether they had insured crops or not.
hey demanded ₹ 50,000 per acre for chilli growers and ₹ 75,000 per acre for those who had raised cash crops.
A senior official from the Agriculture Department said that they had conducted a survey and admitted that many crops had been destroyed due to water logging and continuous rain. However, he said that a final decision on the compensation would be decided by the government.